US piles pressure on internet behemoths
Political pressure on Facebook, Twitter and Google has escalated as the US government warned that Silicon Valley’s increasingly powerful companies may be hurting competition.
The department of justice said there was a growing concern about social media companies’ ability to stifle free speech, and Jeff Sessions, the US attorney- general, had called a meeting of state regulators to discuss concerns.
The news is the latest sign that the US government, which has so far been reluctant to regulate internet companies, is scrutinising them more closely.
Senators warned them on Wednesday that regulation of social media is inevitable if they do not crack down on illegal use of their services.
At a hearing before the justice department’s announcement, members of the influential Senate intelligence committee told Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey and Facebook COO Sheryl Sandberg that “the era of the Wild West in social media is coming to an end”.
The pair admitted that they had failed to prevent foreign meddling in politics and had to do more to protect users from fake news and bots.
Google, which refused an invitation to send its founder Larry Page to the hearing, was represented by an empty chair.
Shares in all three companies fell during the hearing in Washington.
A justice department spokesman later said: “The attorney-general has convened a meeting with state attorneysgeneral this month to discuss a growing concern that these companies may be hurting competition and intentionally stifling the free exchange of ideas on their platforms.”
It comes after President Donald Trump last week labelled the firms a competition concern and accused them of favouring left-wing opinions.
Dorsey promised he would make massive changes to how Twitter operates. He admitted that the social network, which has been criticised for allowing false information and hate speech to flourish, needed to “question the fundamental incentives in our product”.
Sandberg tried to focus on a series of changes the company has made in recent months to improve the social network, but said it was open to government intervention.
It was not a matter of “whether regulation but the right regulation”.
They both said their companies were considering adding labels that alerted users if they were talking to bots.
Google, dubbed arrogant, was repeatedly singled out for criticism over its absence.
Senators had hoped to grill it on its planned expansion in China, which has strict rules on censoring media and handing over citizen data.
Twitter and Facebook are blocked in China.